recording lectures

[rock_climber]

do many students record lectures on a regular basis? if so, do you actually have time to sit down and listen to them later?

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[Non-TradTulsa]

do many students record lectures on a regular basis? if so, do you actually have time to sit down and listen to them later?

I think most medical schools are like mine - the lecture halls have hard-wired recording capabilities and audio recordings of lectures are available to everyone; in fact, some of our recordings are PowerPoint "broadcast" files which show the PowerPoint slide that was on the screen at any point in the lecture. The PowerPoint files are also available separately.

I rarely re-listen to audio tapes on lectures I attended; however, if the subject matter was difficult and/or the lecturer talks extremely fast, I do sometimes review the tape at home and correct/enhance my notes. The tapes are, however, most often used by people who didn't attend the lecture. If you're crunched for time, many lecture tapes can be played at a speed much faster than the original recording. It's a little annoying learning medicine from someone who sounds like Daffy Duck on speed, but it does work. For those really tough lectures, you can also play the tapes at slow speed and pause when needed.

If your school doesn't have a recording system, always remember that it's very bad form to record a lecture without permission from the instructor.

 

[MaDe in Cali]

Our class runs our own recording group which is responsible for hooking up the mp3 recorder to the mic system and then uploading lectures online. Most of the top students in our class never go to lecture, but use the mp3s + powerpoints instead.

Personally, I use Windows Media Player and listen on 2x speed. WMP does not increase pitch when speed is increased, so lecturers simply sound excited about their topic rather than sounding like chipmunks.

Advantages: I pause when I need to add notes to the powerpoints, rewind when I missed a point, and usually end up finishing lectures in 75% of the time.

Disadvantages: I got used to listening to people talk really fast, and now, being required to attend lectures in 3rd year, I'm dieing of boredom because people speak so "slowly."

 

[-Goose-]

do many students record lectures on a regular basis? if so, do you actually have time to sit down and listen to them later?

Podcasting is the ****. Makes going to class obsolete.

 

[bjackrian]

I used our official audio recordings almost exclusively instead of going to class. I sped them up to 1.5 to 2x normal speed, which helped me pay attention (I think that a lot of med school professors can be repetitive and droning, so speeding it up really helped me). I know there were a few people who also recorded lectures on their own because they didn't trust the school recording to work, but that seemed over the top to me. I probably missed one or two lectures per 6 week block, and it didn't seem to affect me at all.

 

[snumie]

Our lectures are recorded and most of them are even right in the powerpoint file- I study during the day and then when I am tired in the evening - I listen to some lectures - It works for me- see what your school has to offer-

 

[Blanket]

It depends on the lecture....it helped a lot for bio-chemistry but not as much for Anatomy. Like many other schools, our school is hard wired and instructors uploaded the lectures (only some did...not all). This was really helpful for biochemistry.

I would study the lecture notes then listen to the lecture to make sure everything makes sense and what is emphasized by the professor. Studying once before listening allowed me to listen to the lectures on 1.5 speed. Then again, time permitting, i would listen to the lectures weekend before the exam. (This way.....i felt very confident going into exams and score a 90+ on each one of them).

 

[njbmd]

do many students record lectures on a regular basis? if so, do you actually have time to sit down and listen to them later?

Most lectures are available as MP-3s (if not, purchase a digital recorder and record your own). Most medical students do not re-listen to lectures because they just don't have that much time and actually don't need to re-listen.

When you get to school, see what set-up your school uses and utilize as needed. I only found the recordings helpful if I was sleeping thorough class.